The Utility of the Union as a Safeguard Against Domestic Faction and Insurrection

Wednesday, November 21, 1787 [Alexander Hamilton] (excerpt)

To the People of the State of New York:

A FIRM Union will be of the utmost moment to the peace and liberty of the States, as a barrier against
domestic faction and insurrection. It is impossible to read the history of the petty republics of Greece and
Italy without feeling sensations of horror and disgust at the distractions with which they were continually
agitated, and at the rapid succession of revolutions by which they were kept in a state of perpetual
vibration between the extremes of tyranny and anarchy. If they exhibit occasional calms, these only serve
as short-lived contrast to the furious storms that are to succeed. If now and then intervals of felicity open
to view, we behold them with a mixture of regret, arising from the reflection that the pleasing scenes
before us are soon to be overwhelmed by the tempestuous waves of sedition and party rage. If momentary
rays of glory break forth from the gloom, while they dazzle us with a transient and fleeting brilliancy,
they at the same time admonish us to lament that the vices of government should pervert the direction and
tarnish the lustre of those bright talents and exalted endowments for which the favored soils that produced
them have been so justly celebrated....

Federalist No. 11

The Utility of the Union in Respect to Commercial Relations and a Navy

Saturday, November 24, 1787 [Alexander Hamilton] (excerpt)

To the People of the State of New York:

THE importance of the Union, in a commercial light, is one of those points about which there is least
room to entertain a difference of opinion, and which has, in fact, commanded the most general assent of
men who have any acquaintance with the subject. This applies as well to our intercourse with foreign
countries as with each other.
There are appearances to authorize a supposition that the adventurous spirit, which distinguishes the
commercial character of America, has already excited uneasy sensations in several of the maritime
powers of Europe. They seem to be apprehensive of our too great interference in that carrying trade,
which is the support of their navigation and the foundation of their naval strength. Those of them which
have colonies in America look forward to what this country is capable of becoming, with painful
solicitude. They foresee the dangers that may threaten their American dominions from the neighborhood
of States, which have all the dispositions, and would possess all the means, requisite to the creation of a
powerful marine....

Federalist No. 10

The Utility of the Union as a Safeguard Against Domestic Faction and Insurrection (continued)

Thursday, November 22, 1787 [James Madison] (excerpt)

To the People of the State of New York:

AMONG the numerous advantages promised by a well constructed Union, none deserves to be more
accurately developed than its tendency to break and control the violence of faction. The friend of popular
governments never finds himself so much alarmed for their character and fate, as when he contemplates
their propensity to this dangerous vice. He will not fail, therefore, to set a due value on any plan which,
without violating the principles to which he is attached, provides a proper cure for it. The instability,
injustice, and confusion introduced into the public councils, have, in truth, been the mortal diseases under
which popular governments have everywhere perished; as they continue to be the favorite and fruitful
topics from which the adversaries to liberty derive their most specious declamations. The valuable
improvements made by the American constitutions on the popular models, both ancient and modern,
cannot certainly be too much admired....

Federalist No. 12

The Utility of the Union In Respect to Revenue

Tuesday, November 27, 1787 [Alexander Hamilton] (excerpt)

To the People of the State of New York:

THE effects of Union upon the commercial prosperity of the States have been sufficiently delineated. Its
tendency to promote the interests of revenue will be the subject of our present inquiry.
The prosperity of commerce is now perceived and acknowledged by all enlightened statesmen to be the
most useful as well as the most productive source of national wealth, and has accordingly become a
primary object of their political cares. By multipying the means of gratification, by promoting the
introduction and circulation of the precious metals, those darling objects of human avarice and enterprise,
it serves to vivify and invigorate the channels of industry, and to make them flow with greater activity and
copiousness. The assiduous merchant, the laborious husbandman, the active mechanic, and the industrious
manufacturer, -- all orders of men, look forward with eager expectation and growing alacrity to this
pleasing reward of their toils.....